


Somewhere to Belong

by pizza_yum



Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Alternate Universe, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-14 02:38:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17499992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pizza_yum/pseuds/pizza_yum
Summary: Garp and Whitebeard strike a deal and Luffy, Ace, and Sabo are sent to live with the Whitebeard Pirates for six months. The trio and crew alike do not know how to handle the situation but eventually they figure each other out and the brothers find somewhere they feel like they belong.





	1. Marco, Thatch and Captain Whitebeard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> This story was posted years ago on Fanfiction.net. A few people requested that I post it here, so here it is. I will be posting chapters when I have time, but the story is completed and the entire thing will be up soon.

Marco couldn't believe his luck as he looked down at the three brats staring up at him.

Pops had made a deal with Garp "The Fist" and now here he was stuck babysitting the marine's three brats.

For six months.

Immediately after agreeing to help Garp, the old man had called him and the rest of the commanders to his room and told them about their guests; then stated that the three brats were going to be Marco's responsibility.

As if he didn't already have enough responsibility.

And now to top it all off one of the brats is saying that he looked like a pineapple. Thatch would have a field day.

"My name is Marco."

"Your name is Marco?" the blonde brat interrupted looking entirely too happy in the pirate's opinion.

"Like Marco Polo? The older brunette snickered.

"Marco?" the younger brunette asked.

"Polo!" the other two answered and all three burst out laughing.

Marco could already feel the headaches these three were going to cause him.

"Yes, I have a funny name and a head shaped like a pineapple. Can we move on?"

"Where are we moving on to, Pineapple Head?" the youngest brat questioned.

Marco could feel his eye start to twitch. He took a deep breath to calm himself. 'You cannot hurt the brats,' he told himself.

"What are your names?" he ground out, attempting to be polite.

"Sabo."

"Ace."

"I'm Luffy!" the last one cheered, throwing his arms up happily.

Marco nodded his head. "Like I said earlier my name is Marco. Not pineapple head." He paused as the three snickered again. "I am the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and ultimately I am the one who is in charge of you."

"Why are they Whitebeard Pirates?" the one who identified himself as Ace asked.

"Yeah you don't have a white beard," Luffy stated.

"He's not the captain Lu," the blond said. "He's just the first division commander. According to the geezer anyway."

"Oh," the little boy said it as if all the questions in the world were answered. "So who's the captain Pineapple Head?"

Marco really wanted to hit his head against something but knew that if he did it would just make the brats laugh. He hit his head against the side of the small boat anyways.

And he was right. They did laugh.

"I like you Pineapple Head."

"I've already told you. My name is Marco. Mar. Co." He hit his head again.

He didn't even bother reacting to the laughter.

"You know he's going to keep calling you that," Ace stated smugly.

"Unless you know how to get him to stop," Sabo said.

"Oh really?"

"Yup. You'll probably be known as Pineapple Head for the rest of your life," the brunette informed seriously.

"Unless..." the blond spoke again.

"Unless…?" Marco lead.

"Pineapple, Pineapple, Pineapple." Marco sent a glare to the little one that singing while rocking back and forth and picking his nose. He stopped abruptly. "I'm hungry. GIVE ME MEAT!"

"This is your chance," Ace stated.

"If you have any meat, give it to him." Sabo advised.

Marco rolled his eyes deciding to go along with them for the time being. It wouldn't hurt anything. He reached into the bag that was next to him and pulled out some dried meat and held it out.

"Wait!" the two older boys. He raised an eyebrow.

"You have to tell him not to call you Pineapple Head anymore," Sabo informed.

"Fine. Hey Luffy." The small brunette looked at him with big eyes. "I'll give you this meat if you stop calling me Pineapple Head and call me Marco."

"Why would I call you Marco?"

Okay there was something seriously wrong with this kid.

"Because that's my name," he said slowly.

"Oh. So I get the meat if I call you Marco?"

"Yes."

"Alright." The dried meat was snatched out of his hand.

"Thanks Marco." The boy said with a smile that was brighter than the sun.

"If you want Luffy to do anything you bribe him with food," Sabo said as he pulled on his top hat.

"Preferably meat if you have it," Ace added as he adjusted his own hat.

"Thanks for the tip," Marco said warily eyeing the two.

He pretty much had the little one figured out. Stupid and liked to eat. Just what he'd expect from Garp's grandson.

The other two were going to be a bit tougher. But being related to Garp it wouldn't be that hard.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thatch was leaning against the railing of the Moby Dick watching the small boat that contained the first division commander and three boys as it arrived. He found it hilarious that one of the fiercest pirates in the Grand Line had been ordered to babysit three kids and he was not going to let any opportunity to mess with his friend pass him by, grateful that it hadn't been him that Pops had chosen to watch the brats.

"Alright climb up," he heard Marco command.

Thirty seconds later a straw hat covered head popped up over the side. "Wow," the little boy said looking up.

"Hurry up Luffy," A voice called from below.

"Sorry," Luffy said climbing over the rail and falling onto the deck face first. Thatch was about to ask the kid if he was alright but he just sprang up and moved before another boy with an orange cowboy style hat jumped onto deck right where the other had been seconds ago. "Ace look at it," the boy exclaimed to the other. "It's so big!"

The other boy was looking around in amazement as well mouth open in awe.

"This is the biggest ship I've ever seen," a third boy, this one with a top hat, said. The other two nodded in agreement.

"Stop dawdling." And there was the first commander. Thatch smiled at his friend who looked highly annoyed with the three boys already.

"Oh come one Marco they just got here. Give them a chance to check things out," Thatch said ignoring the glare he got in return.

"I have too much to do today. I don't have time for them to stand around!"

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today."

"Shut up." Thatch held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "And since you're here you get to help them get settled."

Huh.

He really should have seen that coming.

"Actually I really have too much to do. I have to-"

"Don't even start."

Thatch slumped slightly. He didn't really want to have to hang out with three Marine brats that, for some reason, were getting special treatment. And he really wasn't looking forward to the complaining they would no doubt do. A pirate ship was much different from a Marine one. The brats weren't going to get everything that they were used to and he really didn't want to deal with their whining.

"Fine."

"You're really tall." The fourth division commander looked down at the straw hatted boy.

"You're really short," he retorted causing the boy to laugh.

"I'm Luffy. Who are you?" he cocked his head to the side cutely.

"Luffy, don't bother him," the top hatted boy said grabbing the smaller boy by the back of the shirt and dragged him away and towards where Marco was walking.

"He's fine," Thatch stated. He didn't really mind talking to the kid. At least not yet.

He hadn't started whining yet.

He followed the group listening to Marco as they went. "Welcome to the Moby Dick. You are here because Pops, for some reason beyond my comprehension, decided to do a favor for you grandfather. While you are here, don't expect any special treatment. Everyone is busy and none of us have time to entertain you. You will be given a list of chores you are expected to perform every day. Anything extra you might need you will provide it for yourself."

As they walked crew members would stop and stare as the group passed. The man couldn't really blame them; it wasn't every day that they saw three kids on board of the Moby Dick let alone with two commanders. Thatch just smiled and waved as he walked passed. They made their way across the deck towards the crew quarters. It had been decided that it would be best to give the three their own room considering they were much younger than the rest of the crew.

The three brats were running around looking at anything and everything, talking excitedly to each other, completely ignoring the commanders, until Marco stopped in front of a door and swung it open revealing a tiny room with a small rickety desk and matching chair, closet, and one bed. Thatch winced at the sparse furnishings. They had tried to find two more beds but there really was only the one and no one was going to go through the trouble of getting any new furniture for them considering they'd be gone in six months anyway and the blankets and pillows they had found would be enough for them to get by. But seeing as they grew up with a famous marine for a caretaker spoiling them rotten, the brats probably weren't going to be happy with what they were given.

"This is your room," Marco informed looking bored. "This is all you're going to get so don't bother complaining. Everything in this room you are expected to share so get used to it."

The smallest one wasted no time before running into the room, dropping his bag on the way, and jumping onto the bed. He was closely followed by the one with the orange hat who tackled the other boy onto the mattress.

"That's fine." The last boy said. "We're used to sharing."

"Wow look Sabo we have a bed," the little one cried happily jumping again. "I haven't slept in one since I lived in Fuchsia!"

"We're not going to have one for long if you keep jumping on it," the top hat wearer rebuked.

The boy crossed his legs mid jump and landed sitting next to the older one who was running his hand across the bedding looking amazed. "Wow an actual bed. I've never slept on an actual bed before."

Thatch was stumped.

This was definitely not the reaction he was expecting.

What did he mean he never slept on a bed before?

"Then Ace gets the bed first," the little one decided.

"Good idea Luffy," the blonde one agreed.

"Don't be ridiculous. There's enough room for all of us."

Thatch looked over towards his friend to see that the man was just as baffled as he was. Weren't they the grandsons of the hero Garp "The Fist"? Shouldn't they have been doted on and given everything they ever wanted?

"Hey, look, Sabo! They have a desk so you can write!" Luffy exclaimed.

The blonde smiled and ran over to inspect the rickety old table smiling.

"So," Thatch cleared his throat. "Do you like you're room?"

"It's amazing," Luffy said from where he was standing inside the closet. "It's a million times better than Dadan's country!"

Where was Dadans country?

Ace was still sitting on the bed somehow looking as if it was Christmas and his birthday all wrapped into one without smiling.

Thatch couldn't help the small smile that worked its way on his face. The brats were not at all what he was expecting. The joy they showed just from a simple room that was filled with, admittedly, some of the worse furniture on the ship had them jumping up and down with excitement. "What, you're grandpa didn't give you a bed?"

"Grandpa was never home," Luffy said looking a little sad.

"I didn't live with the old man," Ace stated plainly.

"That crazy geezer is not my Grandpa," Sabo stated looking slightly scared.

"Aren't you brothers?" questioned Marco.

"Yup," all three responded at once.

"Then how is he not your-"

"That's none of your business," Ace snapped. Thatch had to consciously stop himself from shivering. He had never seen such a dark look come from such a small kid. 

"We're brothers and that's all you need to know about us."

"Ace," the blonde one scolded lightly.

"Alright then. You're brothers. No one was saying that you weren't," Thatch said cautiously.

"As interesting as this is," Marco interrupted. "I have work to do. I'll leave you to unpack and get settled. I'll be back to check on you later." With that the blonde man left the room.

"See ya Pineapple Head," Luffy said with a happy wave.

"Bwa ha ha ha ha!" Thatch couldn't help the laughter that burst out.

"MY NAME IS MARCO!"

"Oh yeah. Sorry I forgot!" the boy yelled.

By this point Thatch was doubled over holding his stomach not even bothering with trying to stop his laughter. The kid had spent less than a day with the first division commander and already could get under his skin. He had a feeling he was going to get along with these three. They weren't the spoiled brats everyone had been expecting and he could tell that the little one was going to be fun to have around.

"Hey Mr. Tall-Guy?"

Thatch finally was able to get control of his breathing and was now looking down at the youngest boy who looked back curiously head cocked to the side.

"Yes?"

"What's your name?"

"Thatch."

"Oh. Nice to meet you." The boy closed his eyes and smiled a smile that was too big for his face. "My name's Luffy."

"Nice to meet you too Luffy." The little boy giggled a little and looked proud of himself.

"Oh yes. How rude of us. We haven't introduced ourselves," the blonde said. "My name is Sabo. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Ace," the last boy said still looking slightly upset.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," he said with a smile. "So I hear you're going to be staying with us for a while."

"You don't have to be nice to us." The man turned his attention towards Ace. "We know nobody really want us here. Hell we don't want to be here but the old man made us come."

"Ace," the blonde caught his brother's attention and said in a sing-song voice, "Remember your lessons."

The boy scowled over at the other.

"What I mean is, thank you. It's nice to be here." The boy sounded anything but happy at the moment causing one brother to shake his head and the other to laugh.

They spent a few minutes blinking at each other not really knowing what else to say. "Well, it looks like you've got everything under control. I'll see you around," Thatch said awkwardly before moving towards the door and leaving the three boys alone.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I still don't see what the big deal is," Ace grumbled as they followed after a frustrated looking Marco. They had been left alone for several hours to unpack their few belongings and after about thirty minutes Luffy had declared loudly that he was hungry. Ace and Sabo had instantly agreed and made some makeshift fishing poles out of their lead pipes and some rope and caught themselves a late lunch. They had lit a fire and the fish had just started to cook when Marco had stormed up and demanded to know what they were thinking.

He didn't like Luffy's simple explanation of "making lunch".

It's not like they hadn't taken precautions. They had made sure the fire wouldn't spread by making sure the deck was wet and unable to catch fire.  
"He told us we're supposed to provide for ourselves," Sabo mumbled back.

"I'm hungry," Luffy whined.

Marco hadn't let them finish making their lunch and had commanded that they follow him saying that the captain wanted to see them. As he led them across deck he kept mumbling about stupid brats starting fires on deck.

As they approached the front of the ship they saw a large man sitting in a chair drinking something.

"Whoa he's huge!" Luffy exclaimed eyes wide.

"No kidding," Sabo said with the same expression.

All Ace could do was nod in agreement.

"That would be our captain," Marco informed smiling slightly. It was the first time that Ace had seen anything other than frustration or the bored sleepy expression on his face. "He is the greatest pirate to ever sail the Grand Line."

"I thought that the Gold Roger was," Luffy commented. Ace gritted his teeth and hit Luffy on the head. "Ouch."

"Shut up," the older groused. He really didn't want to hear about that man, ever.

"That hurt Ace!"

"No it didn't. Stop being such a crybaby."

"I'm not a crybaby that just hurt!"

"How?"

"Shut up both of you," Sabo hissed sending Ace a warning look to keep his mouth shut. "We're about to go meet a Pirate Captain and you two can't shut it!"

They both turned toward their brother and nodded, instantly shutting their mouths. Ace was slightly apprehensive. After everything that happened with Bluejam could they really trust Whitebeard?

Well, the answer to that question was no. The only people that Ace knew without a doubt he could trust were standing next to him. The brunette took a not so subtle step closer to Luffy and looked over at Sabo as the blonde made sure that he was standing on the other side of the straw hatted boy.

Marco led them so that they were standing in front of the giant man that was drinking deeply out of a Sake bottle. He didn't even pause when Marco spoke. "Hey Pops! These are the brats you wanted to see. This is Ace, Luffy, and Sabo. Brats this is Captain Whitebeard."

Luffy took a step forward and inspected the large man "I like your mustache," he said before asking, "But why do they call you Whitebeard if you don't have a beard?"  
The giant man slowly lowered his bottle and fixed his stare on the smallest of the boys.

Ace panicked. Really they should have been expecting something like this. It was Luffy after all, but did he really have to draw attention to himself from the strongest man in the world? Two hands shot out and pulled Luffy so that he was now standing behind his brothers. The man's attention was drawn to them.

"Gu ra ra ra." Ace and Sabo traded looks. He was laughing? They relaxed slightly as the man continued to laugh. "What a cheeky brat. So you are Garp's grandsons. Welcome to my ship."

Sabo stepped forward and bowed. Ace, remembering his lessons with Makino, also bowed and the two spoke at the same time. "Thank you for having us."

Ace wasn't surprised to see Luffy follow their lead and also bow. He was always copying them and for once Ace didn't have a problem with Luffy doing exactly what he was doing.

"You will be with us for the next six months. During that time you are to listen to Marco."

"That means no starting fires on deck," the other man stated.

"You told us that we were supposed to take care of ourselves. We were just making lunch," Ace argued.

The old man seemed to find this amusing and laughed deeply.

"Well you can eat in the dining hall like civilized people," Marco stated.

Ace was confused. So they were supposed to provide for themselves but they could eat in the dining hall? How did that make sense?

"What's with the lost looks? If you want something you have to get it yourself but we're not going to not feed you," the blond man stated looking frustrated. The old man just continued to laugh.

Ace looked at Sabo who was just smiling apologetically. He turned to Luffy who looked just as confused as he was.

"You'll have to excuse my brothers. They have been expected to provide their own meals for quite some time, and do not know that in most situations it is customary for adults to feed the children in their care," Sabo stated.

"I'm not a child. I can feed myself," Ace said crossing his arms over his chest looking angry that anyone had said otherwise.

"Then do so," the giant man said. Marco went to protest but was cut off. "A small fire isn't going to hurt anything. They look like they are capable of containing a fire. Just remember that the galley is open to you if you should need it."

"Thank you very much," Sabo said with a smile. "We appreciate your hospitality."

Whitebeard just smiled and went back to drinking.


	2. Breakfast with the Crew and Teach

Ace snuggled into the covers of the bed. Despite the fact that there was enough room for all three of them on the bed Sabo and Luffy (because Sabo reminded him that it was his idea) insisted that he have the bed to himself for at least a week.

He still couldn't believe that they were actually on the same ship as Whitebeard. The strongest man in the world. He was considered one of the greatest pirates in history and they were here. What made it even better was that He, Sabo, and Luffy were all on the same ship together. It was like a dream come true. One that he hadn't thought would happen. Sabo and Luffy had their own dreams that they wouldn't give up and that was okay because he wouldn't give up his either. But he was going to enjoy this while it was still happening.

Even though they were on a ship surrounded by potential enemies.

Gramps had made sure that they knew that they knew that the pirates were not to be trusted.

Not that he needed that lesson after Bluejam.

It had been an interesting two weeks.

They were left alone for the most part and the only ones that seemed to bother them were the stupid Pineapple Head and that Thatch guy. Marco showed up at least once a day to "make sure you brats are still alive". Thatch seemed to actually be interested in what they were up to- even offering to get them some spices from the kitchen for their fish that they would catch every day.

The rest of the crew would usually just stare openly as they walked past.

Overall it wasn't a bad set up.

It was just a little boring not being able to hunt or run through the forest to train. In fact their training had suffered since they had left with Garp for their journey to the Grand Line. He and Sabo were able to train now in day light, some of the crew members even stopped to watch and cheer them on occasionally. Luffy would sit and whine that he wasn't allowed to practice but it was necessary until Sabo and he were able to find a way to get to train Luffy without anyone seeing.

They didn't want anyone finding out about his abilities. Gramps had made sure to pound into their heads, physically, that no one could know about Luffy's powers. The old man told Sabo and Ace, in detail, what might happen to Luffy if anyone ever discovered that he was made out of rubber. From outright killing to slavery and less savory things, Garp had spared no detail about what might happen to their little brother should anyone discover what he could do.  
Luffy of course didn't understand a word of it.

Ace and Sabo had taken it upon themselves to tell him every day not to stretch in front of anyone otherwise he would be hurt and his brothers would be mad at him. It didn't stop him from wanting to train and develop his powers. Ace could tell that Luffy was getting frustrated but it was better to keep Luffy safe and a little unhappy today so that he could get stronger later.

He groaned as he sat up. He really didn't want to get up but he knew that in a half hour Luffy would be up and whining about being hungry and the longer it took to get something to eat the more annoyed he would get and eventually Luffy would probably end up through a wall or Sabo would be jumping into the ocean to save him. Ace really wanted to avoid that today. He got up, stretched, and grabbed his pipe and a rope for his makeshift fishing pole.

He was really getting tired of fish, but what else were they going to eat? There was nothing else. Sure Marco had told them to go the galley when they were hungry but Ace didn't want them relying on anyone for anything. He yawned as he sat on the railing and waiting for his first catch of the day.

"You're not going to catch anything," a voice informed. He looked around to see Thatch leaning against the wall.

"What do you know?" He rolled his eyes and looked back towards the ocean.

"Not much." The man shrugged. "But there were some navigators talking about a weird current and there not being any fish in the area and blah blah blah."

"A-are you serious?"

"Yup."

"For how long?"

The man just shrugged again.

What were they going to do? Luffy and Sabo were going to be up soon and there was going to be no food for the foreseeable future.

"No need to look so sad. It's not like you're going to starve."

"We can take care of ourselves," Ace snapped. "I've been doing it since I can remember."

Thatch was quiet for a moment before taking a seat next to the brunette.

"Nobody is saying that you can't take care of yourself. But you need to be smart. Eating fish all the time is not healthy. You need to have a well-balanced diet."

"We'll be fine. It's only for a few months. We'll survive."

"You know there is more to life than just surviving right?"

Ace turned towards him, confusion written all over his face. "We're alive. What more is there?"

The boy watched as the man next to him grinned. "Ever hear of a thing called fun?"

Ace glared at him. "Of course I have. I have fun all the time." He did have fun when he and his brothers were up in their tree house pretending to be pirate captains sailing the ocean and enjoying their freedom.

"Really? 'Cause you could have fooled me."

"You don't know the first thing about me."

There was another moment of silence before the man chuckled. "You're right. So how about you and I be friends? We're going to be on the boat together for a while after all."

Ace couldn't help but stare up at the tall man for a while before turning back to the ocean, slowly wrapping the rope around his pipe. Having a friend would be nice. Thatch was nice to him now. But if he knew who Ace really was he would hate him just like everyone else; he would throw insults and talk about how he should have never been born and tell him he didn't deserve to live. Just like everyone else.

Everyone but Sabo and Luffy.

Thatch would turn his back on him in an instant if he knew that demon's blood ran through his veins. After all, Whitebeard and Roger were enemies, so why wouldn't anyone on the crew want him to die.

"Hey, come on. It's not that complicated. We can be friends. It's easy. I'll show you and your brothers the galley, we'll all eat together and then plan how we can make Marco's day… more interesting."

Ace didn't respond.

"Come on it'll be fun. You won't have to spend all day trying to catch something to eat and then cooking it." Thatch paused. "The food is really good," he offered lamely.

"Ace?"

The boy turned to see his blonde brother sending the pirate a confused look and then asking Ace if he was okay without using words.

"Good morning," he greeted the other boy.

"What are you doing up? Usually I'm the first one awake."

Sabo sat on the railing next to Ace, tying the rope on the end of his own pipe.

"I didn't want to hear Luffy whine so I thought I would try to get breakfast before he woke up but he," Ace gestured towards the man sitting on his other side, "says that there shouldn't be any fish in the area that we can catch today."

The blonde sat contemplating this. "Well I guess we'll just have to go hungry for today. Luffy is going to be disappointed." After a few seconds he added, "And annoying."

"What is wrong with you kids?" the pirate exclaimed. "We, no, I personally will not let you starve. If you starve then it's because there is no food left on this ship. Now once the little bouncy one is up we're all going to go to the galley and get some food."

"We don't need anyone's charity," Sabo stated coldly. Ace knew that he didn't like relying on anyone any more than he did.

"Not making you starve is not charity," Thatch informed. "It's common human decency. Something I get the feeling neither one of you have really seen before."

They both glared.

"Glare all you want but once Luffy's up you'll either have to eat or deal with him whining all day."

Ace traded a look with his brother before sighing and calling out, "Luffy time to eat."

The little boy was up and standing behind the two in less than ten seconds.

"Wow that was fast," Thatch commented looking towards their now open cabin door.

"Food," he demanded.

"Well the fish aren't biting so we're going to go get something to eat in the galley," Ace informed hopping down from the railing and landing by Luffy.

"Food," he cheered throwing his arms in the air.

Ace rolled his eyes and he and Sabo quickly stashed their pipes in their room and followed Thatch across the deck.

When they arrived they found a large room filled with picnic tables. Men were gathered around all the tables, talking and laughing as the shoved food into their mouths.

Ace looked at the scene with confusion. There was no fight for food. Everyone was just eating what was in front of them and seemed satisfied. But where was the food coming from? How much was left? Had they already fought over the food and the victors were enjoying the spoils? Would they even have to fight for their right to eat like they would at Dadan's?

"This way boys," Thatch called picking up four plates handing one to each of them and keeping one for himself. "Now, I don't know what you're used to but in the galley you line up, hold out your plate when you see something that looks good and then one of the cooks will serve you. You get one serving of four different things. It's a lot of food so try not to take more than you can eat. We don't waste food on this ship."

Ace and Sabo looked at each other and shrugged before walking towards the line of chefs and held out their plates. Food was food. They would eat what they could get and be happy about it.

"I can only get four things?" Luffy questioned looking distressed.

"That's right," Thatch answered. "Don't worry. It should be more than enough for you."

"But everything looks so good."

"Don't complain Luffy," Sabo chided. "They are kind enough to feed us. You should get what you get and be grateful."

Ace nodded in agreement before taking his plate back from the chef- it now had a large helping of eggs, a couple of pancakes, a banana, and some hash browns. He licked his lips. He had only had pancakes and hash browns once thanks to Makino and he was looking forward to having both again. "Thank you," he said with a small bow, remembering his lessons.

The cook blinked and smiled. "You're welcome."

A similar exchange happened between Sabo and another cook.

"Can I have all meat?" Ace heard Luffy ask and he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"No, you need something besides meat," Sabo stated. He then told Luffy what he could eat.

The cook dutifully dished it out. "Thank you," Luffy said with his famous grin as he took the plate back.

Thatch took his own food before leading them towards a mostly empty table.

"Marco," the man greeted as he slid on to the bench next to the blonde.

"What do you want?" the first division commander asked.

"What makes you think I want something?"

"Don't you?"

"Well not anymore," he pouted.

Ace placed his food on the table before climbing onto the bench opposite of Thatch. He took Luffy's plate from him and firmly sat it down before his little brother had a chance to spill it.

Marco blinked at them. "No fish today?" he asked.

"No," Ace answered bitterly.

"That's too bad." The man was too sarcastic for Ace’s liking and he was about to tell him but he was cut off.

"Hi Pineapple Head," Luffy greeted loudly causing the tables around them to all howl with laughter.

"My name is Marco," he said with a sigh.

"Right."

"Are you ever going to get it right?"

"Get what right?" Luffy asked cocking his head to the side.

"I'll take that as a no." He sighed again before looking over at Ace and Sabo. "So what have you all been up to for the past week?"

"Why even ask? You see us every day," Ace stated taking a bite of hash browns.

"Just trying to make conversation unlike you and your brothers."

Ace looked to one side and saw Luffy was too busy inhaling his food to talk, probably afraid someone was going to take it. To be fair someone might. Sabo was no longer paying attention to the conversation. He was looking off to the side while absent mindedly bringing food into your mouth.

Ace smirked. This was the perfect opportunity. He slowly inched his fork closer and closer to the blonde's plate and stabbing a sausage and quickly shoved it into his mouth.

"Don't you have enough?"

Ace silently cursed Marco as Sabo's head snapped to look at him.

"What did you take?"

Ace responded by quickly shoving his pancakes in his mouth knowing that would probably be the first thing his brother would go for. "You took my sausage," Sabo accused before tackling Ace to the ground.

Ace punched his brother across the jaw who responded by kicking him in the stomach. Before he could bite Sabo like he wanted they were both picked up, himself by the back of his shirt, Sabo by the collar of his coat and held far apart from each other.

"What are you doing?" Marco demanded glaring down at them.

"Ace stole my food," Sabo explained.

"You weren't paying attention which means you're food is up for grabs. You know the rules," Ace stuck his tongue out at the boy.  
"Don't steal food," Marco stated shaking Ace a bit.

"Oi Luffy stop!" Sabo yelled angrily.  
Ace's head shot to look at his younger brother who had already eaten half of both his and Sabo's food.

Luffy stuck his tongue out before taking Sabo's apple and taking a large bite.

"Why you!"

Sabo lifted his arms so that he slid out his coat and launched himself at the younger boy. Ace used his feet to push his way out of the pirate's grip and joined Sabo in pummeling Luffy.

None of the boys noticed the shocked looks on the pirates' faces and they watched the fight. Finally having enough Marco once again grabbed Ace and Sabo, and pinned Luffy to the ground with his foot.

"WERE YOU RAISED BY WOLVES?" He screamed.

All three brothers looked at him in confusion. "There is enough food for all of you. You don't have to steal from each other." He set both Ace and Sabo back on the bench and let Luffy go. "Now, since Luffy ate half of your food I'm sure he's full. You can finish his."

"NO!" Luffy instantly wrapped an arm around his plate and pulled his plate closer quickly shoving the food into his mouth.

"Don't eat like that, you'll choke!" Thatch yelled.

"No he won't," Ace said picking at the remainder of his food. Luffy had gotten the food fair and square and there really was nothing else he could do.  
He noticed a small hand sneaking towards his plate. He took his fork and stabbed it into the table glaring at Luffy. "My food," he said firmly. Luffy instantly backed off and jumped up onto the table and turning so that his back was now protecting his plate.

"Get off the table," Marco scolded.

The seven-year-old pouted before doing as he was told and sitting back on the bench. Ace made sure that his arm was now in between his plate and little brother.

"Where does it all go?" he heard Thatch ask as he watched Luffy scoop food into his mouth. "He's already eaten enough for a grown man and he's still eating."

"Slow down Lu," Sabo said looking across Ace. "You're scaring people."

Luffy looked around before slowing down his pace.

"Good. Now that you're eating like civilized people, what was that all about?" Marco asked. Thatch was still watching Luffy with a look that was somewhere between awe and disgust.

"It's breakfast time," Ace said sure that would explain everything. He turned to Sabo. "What were you looking at anyway?"

The blonde head turned again looking around the room before snapping back to the pirates that were sitting across from them.

"Is that really a fishman?" Thatch and Marco, both of whom seemed to tense up and looked at the boy.

"Yes," Thatch answered slowly almost defensively.

"I never thought that they actually existed. Let alone that I would actually see one," Sabo said looking over at the other table where a shark man was sitting talking to the other pirates.

"His name is Namur," Marco informed with a guarded look.

"Do you think he would talk to me?" Sabo asked. It was very hard to tell for anyone that didn't know the blonde well, but he was excited. "I read about them in different books. I read that they were just animals with the brains of a fish. I would love to meet one to find out what they're actually like."

"Actually like?" Thatch questioned looking interested.

"Well, if there is one thing I've learned in my life it's that you can't trust everything that you read in books, especially the ones written by stuffy nobles, or are taught by them. I figure if he's on this ship then there is no way that anything I read about them could be true."

Thatch and Marco relaxed a little and were both smiling now. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind meeting you," Thatch said.  
Sabo looked openly excited about the idea of talking to Namur.

"Nah, Sabo. What's a fishman?"

"I'll explain it later Lu."

"Okay."

"Commander Marco, Commander Thatch, good morning," a deep voice greeted as another man joined their table.

Ace looked up to see a rather large, hairy man with missing teeth sitting next to Luffy.

"Good morning Teach," Marco greeted with a smile.

"So these are our guests," Teach said smiling down at them.

Luffy didn't jump up and introduce himself like Ace had expected. Instead he scooted closer to his brother, getting as close as he could. Normally Ace would shove him away but he noticed that Luffy was shaking slightly and had also stopped eating when there was still food on his plate. That was not like his little brother at all.

"Lu, you okay?" he asked so that no one else would hear him.

Ace watched as his brother looked between him and the large pirate next to him and then nod slightly looking nervous. He looked as if he was going to back away from his brother but Ace simply grabbed Luffy's plate and slid it so that it was back in front of the smaller boy. "Finish eating. We don't want to waste food."

Luffy picked up his fork and ate at an even slower speed. His eyes kept sliding back towards Teach, who would just smile his way. Ace made a mental note to ask Luffy what all that was about later as he took a piece of bacon off his brother's plate. He was shocked when Luffy just watched him take it.  
There was definitely something wrong.

Ace and Sabo kept up a conversation with Thatch and Marco until they were done eating. Thatch then asked Ace if he wanted to go play a prank on one of the other commanders. Ace had never really played a prank so he jumped at the chance and all thoughts of Luffy's strange behavior left his mind.

It wasn't until later that night when they were getting ready for bed that Ace remember the incident at breakfast. Sabo was sitting at the desk writing in his journal and Luffy was bunching up blankets on the ground into a nest sort of thing. He didn't realize it until that moment but Luffy had been acting strangely all day. He had kept close to either him or Sabo and had been less talkative than what they were used to.

"Hey Luffy?"

His brother looked at him, cocking his head to the side questioningly. "What happened at breakfast?"

Sabo paused in writing to look over at Luffy too.

"What do you mean?"

"When that Teach guy sat next to you, you started acting weird," Ace said.

Luffy scrunched up his face as if he were thinking about something really hard. "You mean the beard guy?"

"Yeah him," Sabo confirmed.

Luffy shivered. "I don't like him."

Sabo and Ace traded looks of surprise. Luffy had only said that he didn't like bandits and after what happened to him before they met they couldn't really blame him for that. But he had only just met Teach and he said he didn't like him. That was unheard of. Luffy liked everyone. Luffy had liked him and Sabo even when they said they were going to kill him.

Instead of saying anything Ace gathered a few of the blankets from the floor and Luffy's pillow and threw them onto the bed. The little boy took the hint and climbed in and smiled when Ace settled in next to him. His smile grew as Sabo also joined them. It was a bit of a tight fit now but that was okay because Ace didn't mind sharing with his brothers.

"Why don't you like him?" Ace asked quietly once they were all in bed and settled with Luffy in the middle.

Luffy scrunched up his face as if he were trying to think of the right words. He finally settled on, "He didn't feel right."

"What do you mean?" Sabo asked.

"I don't know. He just… didn't feel right."


	3. Sabo and Namur

"Hey Namur. How's it going?" The Fishman glanced up to see Thatch and Marco standing in front of him both with smiles.

"What do you want?" he asked automatically. The only time Thatch looked that innocent is when he wanted something.

"Want? What makes you think we want anything?" Thatch said looking slightly offended. "Is it so wrong that we just want to talk to our brother, whom we love dearly?"

Namur looked at Marco. "What does he want?"

"We just came to see if you wouldn't mind talking to one of the brats on board. He said a few days ago that he wanted to meet you," Marco stated.

"So in other words you want me to babysit."

"It's not babysitting," Thatch said matter of factly.

"Oh really?" Namur didn't believe a word he said.

"They pretty much take care of themselves," Marco said. "I was actually expecting them to be a lot more work than they have been."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Because you're a suspicious person," Thatch said throwing an arm around the other commander. "Really you should have more faith in us. We don't want to trick you into anything. The kid just wants to talk to you."

That was unusual. There weren't very many humans that wanted to talk to him. They were all afraid that they would catch a disease or something from him. Usually his brothers would run interference for him so that he didn't have to deal with the stupidity of most humans. But here they were saying that he should go and actually chat with one.

"Why?" he questioned.

"He said that he read about Fishmen and doesn't believe a word of it," Thatch informed.

"He wants to see what Fishmen are actually like and he asked if you would mind talking to him for a while," Marco continued.

"We thought it would be a good opportunity to make sure that the kid was taught the truth instead of the messed up whatever they're teaching now days," Thatch finished.

Namur starred at them not sure what to say after that but he settled on, "No."

"What? Why not?"

"I don't want to spend time with the marine brats."

"Oh come on they're not that bad," Thatch said.

"Besides we're just asking you to have a small chat with one of them," Marco coursed.

"Why do you want me to do this so bad?"

Thatch and Marco looked at each other and shrugged. "He just looked so… excited," Marco said.

"Besides I'm trying to teach the two older ones what fun is. I think this would help," Thatch added.

Namur shot the fourth division commander a confused look. "What's in this for me?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

The two smiled. "The knowledge that you made a kid happy," Marco said.

"Nope I want something better."

"I'll buy you some sake at our next stop with a town," Thatch said.

"The good stuff?"

"Of course."

"Fine. I'll do it."

* * *

 

When he agreed to talk to the kid Namur didn't think that they meant right then. They had immediately dragged him across the deck and towards the brats' cabin. The three boys were all leaning against the railing looking at the ocean.

"Hey guys. What are you doing?" Thatch asked.

"Watching the water," the little one answered.

"Why?" Marco asked.

"Why not?" the one wearing an orange cowboy hat answered with a shrug.

"Nothin' better to do," the last one answered.

Marco shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Hey Sabo," Thatch got the blonde’s attention. "There's someone I wanted you to meet."

"Yeah?" The blonde looked away from the water looking interested. He smiled when he saw Namur which surprised the fishman. He wasn't used to that reaction when humans first met him.

"This is Namur," Marco informed.

By now they had gained the other two boys attention. "Hey he looks like a shark," the straw hatted one exclaimed.

"Hi," Namur said awkwardly not really sure what was expected of him.

"Hi my name is Sabo," the blonde introduced. "These are my brothers Ace and Luffy." The other two waved when they were introduced.

"I was told one of you wanted to talk to me."

"That would be me. I've always wanted to meet a fishman ever since I read about you guys in one of my books. Is it true that there's an island at the bottom of the ocean where you all live?"

"Yeah. It's actually a popular tourist spot for pirates going to the New World."

"Hey Luffy, Ace you want to play a game?" Thatch asked getting the other boys attention.

"No thanks we should probably try to catch our dinner," Ace said.

"A game? What kind of game? I wanna play!"

"Calm down Lu. Let him have a chance to talk," the older brunette said with a sigh.

"What game do you want to play?" Thatch asked leading the two boys away despite the fact that Ace was complaining that he didn't want to play.

"Well I have work to do," Marco said before turning around to go back to his cabin leaving the fishman and the blonde boy alone.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Namur asked.

Two hours later Namur was happy that Thatch and Marco were able to talk him into talking to the kid. He found that the kid was insightful, passionate, clever, open minded, and one of the most intelligent people he had ever talked to.

"You know a lot about navigation for someone your age," he commented. Somehow they had ended up on the subject and the kid knew more about the subject than most on the ship did.

"Well yeah. If I want to become a pirate when I turn seventeen then I need to know about navigation."

"You, one of the grandsons of the hero Garp "The Fist," want to be a pirate?" The idea was funny.

"Yup. The old man doesn't really approve but he was stupid enough to think that if we all lived with bandits it would make us want to be marines."

They lived with bandits? And now they were living with pirates and their grandfather wants them to be marines. What was Garp thinking?

"How does that make any sense?"

The boy chuckled. "I can't tell you how much time I have wasted trying to figure that out."

"I have to ask, why do you want to be a pirate?"

"Why did you want to be one?"

Namur didn't even have to think about it. He had wanted to be a pirate because he was an outcast everywhere else. Being with Pops and the rest of the crew he was accepted for the first time. Maybe Sabo's reasons were similar to his own.

"We just want to be free."

The pirate looked down at the boy and was shocked to see the amount of pain and yearning he saw in his eyes. This kid had been through some terrible things and knew what it was like to be trapped. Whether it was figuratively or literally Namur wasn't sure if he wanted to know. The kid was too young to have experienced that kind of pain.

"And being a pirate would make you free?"

"Of course. Being a pirate means that you don't have to answer to anyone but yourself. You can live the way that you want and do anything you want whenever you want. Being a pirate is freedom."

Namur smiled. "So if Garp doesn't want you to be pirates, why put you on one of history's most famous pirates' ship?"

"Honestly I wish I knew. He just showed up one day picked us all up and said that we were leaving. Before we knew what was happening we were on a marine ship and then a few weeks later we were here. I'm really surprised he put us on a pirate ship but he probably has some stupid reason that only makes sense to him."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

* * *

 

Luffy frowned at the wall. He had been having a fun morning. He had gotten to wake up both Ace and Sabo for once and did so by jumping on them. They had both yelled at him, but their faces were funny when they woke up, so that was okay. After that they had gotten dressed and went to the galley for food, something they had been doing more and more. Sabo had been able to talk one of the cooks into giving them all an extra helping of bacon and they sat down and started stealing from each other like usual.

Marco would get mad if he caught them but that just meant they had to be sneaky.

But then Thatch had come.

He had smiled asked them all how they were doing and then started talking to Ace about something that they wouldn't tell Luffy about because Ace said he would tell everyone.

No he wouldn't.

Then the shark guy came and started talking to Sabo.

At least Thatch had been nice enough to say hi to him before he and Ace started talking. The shark guy just started talking to Sabo and before he knew it Luffy was sitting in his room all by himself with orders not to leave the room unless he had to.

Stupid Ace.

Stupid Sabo.

He didn't have to listen to them. They weren't in charge of him.

With a new found resolve Luffy stood up and walked over to the door and opened it widely before marching out.

Ha. That would show them.

He sat down in front of the door arms crossed and waited for his brothers' return, hoping that they wouldn't be too mad at him for leaving the room.

He watched as various pirates would walk by and smile at him. Some waved as they passed and some nodded. He would return their greetings but spent most of the day looking at the ocean.

"Luffy what are you doing outside?" Ace asked as he and Thatch joined him. His brother was glaring slightly.

"I got bored," Luffy responded truthfully with a shrug.

"Oh, well next time you need to stay in the room. How about we go get some lunch?"

Ace wasn't mad?

Luffy jumped up and followed his brother and the tall pirate both of whom were talking really fast and low. He wondered what they were talking about but was soon distracted by all the types of meat that he had to choose from for lunch.

After all it wasn't that big of a deal if Ace and Sabo spent some time with their new friends. Luffy didn't mind being by himself for a little while.

Sort of.


	4. First Island Adventure

Luffy sat on the railing of the ship swinging his feet back and forth watching as the island in the distance grew closer. He was really excited to have an adventure. Shanks and his crew used to tell him that there was an adventure on every island you visited. He just hoped that Ace and Sabo would go with him. They had both been busy lately.

Sabo and Shark Guy seemed to have a lot in common, or at least they liked to talk a lot.

It was boring.

Thatch would come almost every day and invite them to do something with him. Luffy would occasionally join in but it was obvious that the man liked spending time with Ace more than Luffy and he didn't want to get in the way of anyone's fun. When Luffy said he didn't want to play with them, the man would usually drag Ace off to pull some prank on someone leaving Luffy alone with the command to stay in the cabin.

He hated being alone.

Luffy shook his head to shake away the sad thoughts.

He was happy that Ace and Sabo had friends. He just wished that they would ask him to play with them sometimes without the grownups. The only times he had seen his big brothers this week was when it was time to eat and bed time. His brothers hadn't even spent time with him fishing. They now spent most of their meals eating in the galley which was fun, there was lots of good food and the people were interesting, but they were all really busy during the day and none of them really had time to talk to Luffy.

He watched the horizon for another hour as the island grew closer and closer before the ship docked. He hopped off the railing and ran to the front of the ship where he finally found Thatch and Ace talking.

"Ace!" he called. "Can we go explore the island? It will be a fun adventure." He smiled at his big brother.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the room?" Ace demanded before sighing. "We were just looking for you. Thatch and Namur are going to go with us. We just need to wait for him and Sabo."

Luffy felt his heart sink knowing that the pirates were going to come with them. He was really hoping to spend some time with his brothers. "Oh okay."

"Ace! Oh good you found him," Sabo called before coming to stand with his brothers smiling down at Luffy. "You ready to go?"

Luffy nodded as Ace threw up a fist and yelled "Yeah! Let's go!"

He smiled. It was nice to see Ace so excited.

"Are you alright Luffy?" Sabo asked looking concerned.

He blinked up at his brother. "Yeah I'm good," he smiled.

"Then let's go," Ace said grabbing Sabo and Luffy by the arms and dragged them off the ship with Thatch and Shark Guy following close behind.

"Oi! Thatch! Wait up!" a voice called.

Luffy looked behind them to see Pineapple Head coming their way. "Mind if I join you?" he asked looking toward the other adults.

"The more the merrier," Thatch said. "Right?"

"I guess he can come," Sabo said looking disinterested.

"As long as he doesn't kill the fun," Ace added.

Pineapple Head looked offended. "I do not kill the fun!"

"Yes you do," Sabo and Ace answered at once.

Luffy laughed.

"You think that's funny do you?" Pineapple Head asked glaring at him.

"Yup," the boy chirped cheering up because he was with his brothers, even if the grownups did have to come with them it would still be fun.

Pineapple Head sighed. "Well I guess I'll just have to change your minds then won't I?"

"Like you could," Ace said crossing his arms.

"You're all about work. Therefore you don't know how to have fun," Sabo stated.

"Just because I'm responsible doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun," he stated as the five started walking leaving Luffy behind.

He frowned before running after them.

Great they were forgetting about him again.

"You guys should stay close," Thatch called out to Ace and Sabo about an hour after they left the ship. The two boys were a little ahead of the rest of the group and were looking around.

"We'll be fine. This place kind of feels like home doesn't it Sabo," Ace asked loudly so that the pirates could hear. The island had a massive forest on it that was filled with familiar bugs and animals.

Luffy hoped that there were no wolves on this island. Or monkeys. He was tired of monkeys. They were really hard to beat. And wolves were hard to outrun.

He didn't bother telling anyone this. It's not like they cared anyway. The adults just wanted to talk to Ace and Sabo and his brothers were more interested in exploring than they were in spending time with him.

Luffy looked off into the trees and saw something shiny. Maybe it was gold. He turned to tell the others but they were already too far for him to call after them.

Oh well.

He looked back towards the trees before smiling to himself. He was going to have an adventure and see what that shiny thing was. Maybe it would be gold.

He took off running to see what the shiny thing was. Unfortunately it wasn't gold. It was just a shiny whistle. He thought it was interesting so he picked it up and put it in his pocket before looking around to see where he was. It was just the forest still with nothing interesting but he could hear a river somewhere ahead of him. He let himself smile before making his way towards the rushing water. There was always something interesting next to a river.

* * *

 

Sabo was having fun. It had been nearly two months since they had been forced to leave home and he was enjoying running around the forest with his brothers and their pirate friends.

He felt himself smile. He couldn't remember the last time he was this happy. He had his brothers safe and sound and they had made new friends. Namur was really cool to hang out with. He had lots of interesting things to talk about and he was even teaching him about fishman karate he said that he would even try to adapt it a bit so that Sabo could learn a little. Thatch was a lot of fun to hang out with and was teaching him and Ace how to pull the perfect prank.

Marco was alright.

He was just too serious sometimes.

Sabo paused in walking feeling like something was missing. He looked around not quite able to place what was wrong. He look towards Ace who was looking around with a confused look on his face.

"Something wrong?" Namur asked.

"Yes," Ace answered automatically.

"Something's missing," Sabo added looking behind them to see Marco, Thatch, and Namur all looking at them. Wait. It was just the three pirates. Then where was- It was then that horror struck him. How could he have not noticed it before!?

"What's missing?" Marco asked.

"LUFFY!" Ace yelled before he could answer.

"LUFFY WHERE ARE YOU?!" Sabo screamed feeling panic rise. They were on a strange island in the _Grand Line_ and Luffy was missing. Not thinking, he took off running in the direction they had just come from, Ace close behind him.

"Hey wait," he heard Thatch and the others call after them.

"LUFFY!" Sabo didn't care about them right now he just had one thing on his mind.

"AHHHH!"

Sabo felt his heart stop.

No no no no no. He changed direction to go towards where he was sure the scream was coming from. The last time they had heard a scream like that, Luffy had been attacked by a wolf that he hadn't been able to outrun.

He had almost died.

They broke through the trees just in time to see a massive alligator, bigger than any of the ones they had seen before, swallow Luffy whole.

"Luffy!" Ace called.

"Did he just get eaten?" Sabo heard Thatch ask in horror.

"Oh Pops is not going to be happy," Marco said.

"Not again," Sabo sighed before glaring at the creature.

"This has happened before?" Namur asked shocked.

The two boys ignored the adults and instead focused all their attention on the alligator that had dared eat their little brother. They didn't have their pipes with them but it should be okay. They were stronger than the last time Luffy had been eaten.

"You stupid gator give me back my brother," Ace yelled before running in, fists flying.

Sabo joined him jumping into the air and landing on the stupid animal's head with a kick. He felt the gator start to roll and jumped off landing next to Ace.

"Wait a second," Thatch said grabbing them by the arms. "Don't take on something you can't handle."

Ace pulled his arm forcefully away. "We can handle this. That thing just ate our brother and we _will_ be getting him back."

"Luffy was swallowed whole so all we have to do is get him out before he's digested and he'll be fine," Sabo stated.

Neither boy noticed as Marco stepped in front of the other two pirates and held out an arm telling them to wait.

They launched their next attack both aiming a kick at the head. It was enough to knock the creature out. "I thought that was going to be harder," Ace said kicking it in the head for good measure.

"Y-you just took out an alligator with no weapons," Thatch said looking surprised.

"We need to figure out how to get him out," Sabo said turning to his brother ignoring the man.

"Right we don't have any knives to cut him out this time."

"Here I'll get him out," Marco said pulling out a knife.

"NO!" Ace moved in front of the alligator arms spread out. There was a chance that Marco would cut Luffy. "We'll do it!"

Ace took the knife away from the pirate with a glare. "Make sure it doesn't move," he told Sabo pointing to the alligator.

"Right."

Five minutes later Luffy crawled out, wet and dripping with the gastric juices and blood.

"You alright Lu?" Sabo asked. He wanted to hug his brother but was too disgusted at the moment. For some reason this time was so much worse than the last. He briefly had to wonder why that was.

"I-I w-was so scared," he cried loudly tears running down his face increasing Sabo's desire to hug him. "I di-didn't think you, you, were going to-to g-get me out."

"What the hell were you doing by yourself?" Ace demanded. "It's dangerous to wander around alone."

"I-I'm sorry. A-a-ace and S-Sabo were busy and I-I-I just wan-wanted to see what the shiny thing was!"

"You wanted to see what the shiny thing was?" Sabo questioned.

Luffy didn't respond except to let out another wail. "Stop crying already," Ace yelled grabbing onto his hair. Sabo was sure that he was physically having to stop himself from hitting Luffy.

The little brother sniffed a few times before clamping his lips together. It was obvious he still wanted to cry more.

"Calm down already," Sabo said. "You're okay."

"Is he alright?" Sabo jumped at the question. Somehow he had forgotten about the others with them. He turned to see their new friends looking at Luffy with concern.

This was partially their fault. If they hadn't been distracting them and making noise then Sabo would have noticed Luffy was missing a lot sooner. He and Ace would have found him and Luffy would have never been eaten.

"He's fine," Sabo said stiffly.

"Are you sure? He's still crying," Marco said looking at Luffy

"He said he's fine." Ace barked. "Now leave!"

"B-but Ace, we just want to help," Thatch said raising his hands as if to ward off Ace's anger.

"We don't need your help," Ace snapped. "We can take care of _our_ brother by ourselves. Besides this would have never happened if you weren't here! Leave!"

The three pirates looked struck.

"Namur, Thatch, you heard them. Let's go." Marco grabbed the other two and pulled them away.

Sabo watched as they left feeling slightly guilty. They looked like they genuinely wanted to help but he couldn't risk it. He couldn't risk Luffy's safety. They may have been nice but that didn't mean that they could be trusted.

Despite how gross Luffy was at the moment Sabo grabbed one of his hands and started pulling down stream. "Come on let's go find a shallow part of the river so that we can get you cleaned up."

It only took fifteen minutes to find a part of the river that was deep enough that Luffy could get clean but shallow enough where he couldn't drown. Sabo sat in the river with Luffy making sure that he got cleaned properly. This was relaxing for Luffy and fulfilled Sabo's need to hug his brother all in one. Ace stood on the bank of the river looking for any potential threats and making sure that no pirates wandered onto the scene and noticed the effect that the water had on Luffy. The last thing that they needed was someone to get suspicious and start to suspect that he had eaten a devil fruit.

Luffy's now wet clothes drying over a fire that he had built.

"Luffy, what did you mean that me and Ace were too busy?" Sabo asked running his fingers through his brother's hair dragging out some of the alligator goo and rinsing his hand in the water.

"You and Ace are always with your new friends," he shrugged tiredly. "You wanted to explore with them and that's okay. I just wanted to have an adventure."

Sabo thought back over the past week. He had been with Namur a lot lately and come to think of it, Ace had been with Thatch most of the time. That meant that they had left their simple minded, naive, innocent, trusting little brother alone on a pirate ship surrounded by potential enemies.

What were they thinking?

Sabo looked towards the shore to see Ace sitting with clenched fists and knew that he had similar thoughts.

They had left Luffy, who had told them that being alone was worse than being tortured, all by himself all because they were excited to be on a pirate ship and that they had actually making friends with some of the crew.

It was inexcusable.

"I'm sorry Luffy. I didn't mean to leave you alone," Sabo said sadly. He truly was very sorry.

"Me too." They looked up to see Ace standing next them. He had at some point removed his shoes and was now standing in the water. He reached down and pulled and now clean Luffy up and helped him towards shore.

They were forced to dress him in semi-damp clothes, but that was alright- because the weather was warm, they would dry quickly and it was better than him being exposed to the elements. Luffy, of course, complained that he didn't like wearing the damp, cold clothes.

"Get over it," Ace said before kneeling down in a silent offer to carry Luffy as a silent apology for making him wear damp clothes. The little brother jumped at the chance and happily climbed onto his big brother's back. Ace made sure that he was secure before they started walking along the river back to where they came from, figuring it would be the easiest way to find the ship. "You won't have to worry about being alone anymore," the older brunette stated five minutes later. "I'm not going to hang out with Thatch anymore."

"And I'm not going to spend time with Namur."

"What? I thought they were your friends," Luffy seemed distressed.

"They are, were, but you're more important than them," Sabo stated.

"No! I like that you have friends. Ace smiles when he plays with Thatch and Sabo has fun talking to the shark guy. I-I don't mind being a-alone if Ace and Sabo are happy," he said with a heart breakingly sad smile. Sabo knew that he wasn't lying, Luffy couldn't lie to save his life, but it was obvious he was distressed about the idea of being alone.

"We'll see what happens," Sabo said with a smile of his own, hoping to cheer Luffy up just a little bit. He knew that he personally wouldn't let Luffy leave his side for a long while.

They were surprised when they reached the alligator to find three pirates cooking the meat from their kill.

"Hey," Thatch greeted turning some of the meat on the fire. "We thought you might be hungry so we decided to cook this guy up for you."

Sabo stared. Hadn't they just yelled at them to leave them alone? Why were they here?

"Didn't we tell you to leave us alone?" Ace demanded coldly.

The pirate looked hurt.

"Ace. Don't," Luffy said quietly. "He's fun to play with. Don't be mad at him. It wasn't his fault I got swallowed. It was mine."

Sabo sighed. As much as he wanted to, and previously did, blame the pirates for what happened it wasn't their fault. It was his and Ace's for not paying attention. And Luffy's for wandering off.

"What Ace means is thank you for your thoughtfulness. We are starving and would love to eat some lunch. Right Ace?"

"Whatever."

He put Luffy on the ground before making his way towards the fire and sitting down, making sure he wasn't sitting next to Thatch. Luffy automatically sat next to Ace and Sabo sat on the other side of the little brother making sure to just look at the fire and not at any of the pirates. It was an awkward fifteen minutes before Marco handed them each some meat.

"Thanks Pineapple Head."

Thatch and Namur snickered.

"My name is Marco."

"Right."


	5. Sick

Ace stared at the flames of the fire that he was currently cooking his, Sabo's and Luffy's dinner on. It had been nearly two weeks since the incident with the alligator and in that time Luffy had somehow gotten sick. It had started out with a mild fever, sore throat, and a runny nose and developed into a cough-nothing they usually couldn't handle. The only problem was the fever was still there and had gotten progressively worse over the past two days. It had gotten to the point where his little brother was beginning to hallucinate and it was scaring him. Sure they had all been sick in their lives and Luffy had been sick once before about five months ago but that had been nothing compared to this.

Sabo, their sort of doctor in the group, usually knew what to do when they were hurt and he had been able to make Luffy feel better last time he was sick but now it seemed that nothing they did worked. He wasn't eating and could barely keep anything down when he did. Sabo said it was because of the fever and that they should try to get him to drink water. Lots and lots of water. Only problem was that Luffy's stomach couldn't handle even that.

Ace turned the small fish that he had picked out for his little brother hoping that it was going to be small enough that he could eat it and keep it down but considering he had gotten progressively worse all day he doubted it. He bit his lip trying not to think of the worst case scenario. There was no way Sabo would let anything happen to Luffy.

Neither one of them would.

If they could help it.

He looked the fish over one more time and decided that they were thoroughly cooked and poured some water over the fire. He didn't want Marco to yell at him today just because he didn't put the fire out properly. In fact he was happy to say that he hadn't seen Pineapple Head all day and that every pirate he ran into seemed to be able to tell that he was just not in the mood to be messed with or even talked to.

Even Thatch.

The pirate had made several attempts at trying to get them to hang out with him but Ace simply refused. He had been polite because he had no reason to be rude, but he was not going to neglect his little brother anymore for anyone on this ship. They would be leaving in a few months anyway and Luffy was his little brother and therefore his responsibility.

He had no ties to the men on board this ship.

He threw open the door as he arrived at their designated cabin. He had recently discovered that it was the cabin of the late second division commander and the only reason that it had been available for them was that he had died only a little while before they had arrived. He wondered where they would go when a new commander was chosen but brushed it off. It really didn't matter. They'd make due with whatever they were given.

He kicked the door shut with his foot and winced when it was just a little too loud and made Luffy moan in pain. "Sorry Lu," he apologized quietly. "Do you think you're up for trying a little dinner?"

"Do I have ta?" Ace winced at the rough voice. It was tired and lacked all of the Luffy enthusiasm it normally had.

"Can you just try?" Sabo pleaded. "You haven't been able to keep anything down since yesterday afternoon."

"But my tummy hurts."

"Alright, but at least try to drink some more water."

Luffy agreed and Ace ran to the bed, after putting the fish on the desk, and sat behind the smaller boy to support him while Sabo gently guided the cup to his mouth. After just a few sips Luffy pulled his head away. "No more," he whined.

"Alright I guess," Sabo said putting the cup to the side, biting his lip. "Just get some sleep."

"Sabo and Ace will be here?"

"Of course we're going to be here," Ace answered. "Where else would we be?"

Luffy smiled as he quickly fell asleep. At least they were able to make him feel a little bit better.

"I'm going to try and get some fresh water to keep his forehead cool," Sabo said picking up a small wooden bowl they had found on deck and had stolen to use to treat Luffy's fever.

"Sabo, he's not getting better."

"I know. I- I just don't know what to do. I'm not a doctor."

"I know." Ace bit his lip before asking, "What are we going to do?"

"We could talk to one of the nurses on board," the blonde suggested. "Or maybe Thatch. Marco always seems to know what to do and he won't do anything to go against Captain Whitebeard so we know we can trust him because even the geezer says Whitebeard can be taken at his word. Namur might have some ideas."

"Then they would know that Luffy was vulnerable." He looked at his brother. The boy looked beaten down and tired. He also looked a little flushed. He hoped that Sabo wasn't getting sick as well. He didn't know if he'd be able to handle two sick brothers at once.

"Would it be all the bad?" he asked quietly. "They had a chance for over a week when we weren't around to attack Luffy and they didn't. Don't you think that the geezer might have exaggerated a bit?"

Talking about the past few weeks made Ace feel guilty. He was guilty because he ditched his brothers and he felt guilty now for brushing Thatch off. He _did_ have a lot of fun with the pirate who was always thinking of new things for them to do and try out. He had even invited Luffy along most of the time. Luffy was just too young to relate to for the man. But Ace did give him points for trying. But when push came to shove Ace would choose Luffy every time.

But Sabo did have a point. Luffy had been by himself and he had been perfectly fine, which meant that the pirates were trustworthy enough not to attack them.

"Maybe if he's not any better by tomorrow we'll go ask someone what we should do," Ace said slowly with a shrug.

"I like that idea." Sabo smiled before leaving the room to get the fresh water.

Later, much later, that night, Ace had just decided that he was going to get a few hours of sleep before relieving Sabo on Luffy watch. He was about to get settled when suddenly Luffy started shaking uncontrollably.

His eyes widened as Sabo pulled Luffy down on the bed a little so that his head won't hit the head board and then just let go.

"What's happening?" he demanded heart pounding. This had never happened before.

"He's having a seizure I think."

"You _think_?"

"I told you I'm not a doctor!"

"What do we do?"

The blonde was now pulling his hair, tears in his eyes. "I don't know! Go get some help! I'll stay and make sure he doesn't get hurt."

Ace didn't need any further instructions. He took off running towards the first person he could think of.

* * *

 

Thatch sighed as he laid in bed trying to figure out what he had done wrong. It had been about two weeks since Luffy had been eaten by that alligator and Ace and Sabo refused to talk to him. Sure they were polite and would respond when spoken to but now the two boys just kept to themselves.

According to Namur Sabo wasn't talking to him either and for some sadistic reason it made him feel better to know that he wasn't the only one they were refusing to talk to.

Luffy had been as friendly as ever. He would bounce up to Thatch, Ace or Sabo, sometimes both, close behind, and strike up a conversation easily. It didn't seem like he was traumatized from the event or anything. But then again he hadn't even seen Luffy for about a week now. It was rare to catch sight of any of the trio now days and he had to wonder why.

Izo and Haruta told him that he shouldn't worry about it and just be glad that the brats weren't bugging him anymore. But Thatch liked it when they bugged him. They were fun to hang out with, especially Ace. There was just something about that kid. He was able to take a joke to the next level and he and Thatch were quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with on the Moby Dick. He smirked thinking about the last joke he had played with the kid. They had managed to dye the entire sixth division's hair blue.

He missed playing pranks with Ace.

He missed Sabo being able to work out the small details he and Ace just couldn't with pranks. He missed the way Luffy would smile that smile that just didn't seem to fit on his face. He just missed them which was pathetic because they were just kids after all and they hadn't been on the ship all that long and they still were on the ship. What was he going to do when they left?

He sighed and forced his thoughts to calm down. He would just go to their cabin in the morning and see what was going on. Maybe Namur would go with him. After all he and Sabo were getting on really well before the trio stopped talking to everyone.

He was on the verge of sleep when he heard pounding on his door. He sat up, heart racing. He had not been expecting that. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself thinking that it was ridiculous he would have such a reaction while on board and blamed it on the fact that he had been in that moment between being asleep and being awake.

The pounding grew more frantic.

He climbed out of bed and stumbled across the room before throwing open the door. He didn't see anything so he looked down. A frantic Ace was standing there staring back at him, eyes wide with fear.

"What's wrong?"

The tears started before Thatch could do anything and all he got was a strangled, "Help."

He knelt down so that he was eye level with the ten-year old. "Hey calm down. What do you need help with?"

Ace didn't respond. He just latched onto his arm and started tugging him towards the trio's cabin. Thatch let himself be pulled along wondering what had happened that was bad enough that Ace would not only ask for help but would be crying too.

The door was thrown open so hard that it bounced against the wall as Ace ran in with Thatch.

Sabo looked up from where he was knelt on the bed, the same frantic look in his eyes that Ace had. "What's wrong?" the pirate asked again automatically. These were tough kids, they wouldn't just freak out about any little thing. If they were this scared something big was happening.

Sabo just moved so that he had full view of the bed. He felt his eyes widen. This was bad.

Luffy was lying on the bed, face flushed, breathing uneven and shallow. It didn't take a doctor to figure out that the kid was sick.

"W-we don't know what to do," Sabo said, voice shaking. "He's never been this sick before. A-and we tried to get him better but his fever is really high and we don't know what to do."

Thatch nodded slowly before placing hand on the small boy's forehead and winced at the heat that was coming from it. He didn't know a lot about medical stuff but he knew enough to know that the kid was way too hot.

"We need to take him to the infirmary," he stated.

"No! Luffy hates the doctor," Ace said Sabo nodding in agreement.

Thatch almost smiled. So they still did think like children occasionally. They wanted to spare him the fear of going to the doctor and thought that they could handle it here. When they knew they couldn't handle it they thought that getting an adult would fix things. Unfortunately that was not true and this was far beyond Thatch's ability to help.

"His fever is too high. There is a chance if it's not brought down soon that he will have brain damage or even die."

The frantic look in their eyes grew to looks of pure horror at the thought. "If you let me take him to see the ship's doctor it might not be too late."

The two traded a look before nodding at one another. "We get to go with him," Sabo said.

"Well that's up to the doctor," Thatch said not wanting to get their hopes up of actually being able to stay with Luffy. Lyra, the resident doctor, was not a fan of unneeded personnel in _her_ infirmary.

It was then he noticed that both Sabo and Ace looked a little flushed as well. His hand shot up to rest on Sabo's, who was closer, forehead. He frowned when he noticed the boy was a little warm. "I think you both might be sick as well."

"We're fine," Ace protested. "It's Luffy who's sick."

There was no doubt that the straw hat wearer was sick but he had a feeling the other two were as well. Instead of arguing he just picked the small boy up, blankets and all, wrapped him up tightly so he wouldn't be exposed to the cool night air, not sure if this would help or not. "Let's get going."

He made his way below deck and down a hallway and soon found himself standing in front of his least favorite room on the ship. It was this room that his brothers and sisters would come to when they were injured or sick. He didn't like that this room had to exist, but at moments like these he was glad that it did.

He kicked open the door and saw several nurses walking around, tending to those lying in the beds. Thankfully it didn't look like too many of his brothers were here.

"Commander Thatch. What are you doing here?" one of the nurses asked, noticing him.

"Luffy's sick," he said simply. That was all that it took before the boy was snatched out of his arms and put into bed.

A woman with blonde hair, pulled back into a messy bun was called and she quickly checked the boy over. "Thatch!" he quickly walked over to the bed, Ace and Sabo with him.

"Lyra," he greeted.

"How long has he had a fever?" she demanded.

He looked at Ace, who looked at Sabo. "About a week," the blonde answered.

"And why is this the first time I'm seeing him?" she glared down at the two boys. If there was two thing you didn't do on the ship it was mess with one of Lyra's patients and ignore being sick.

"W-we thought we could handle it. We didn't think that it was this bad."

Her glare softened as she looked at the two downtrodden boys. Suddenly her hands shot out, much like Thatch's had earlier, as she checked both boys for a fever. "We need two more beds. You will be forgiven this once for not bringing him in sooner only because you are ill yourselves and it obviously impaired your judgment," she stated.

"Iris," she called a nurse over.

"Yes Doctor?"

"I need you to run a shallow lukewarm bath."

Thatch watch in fascination between Ace's and Sabo's beds as a tub was brought in and Luffy was stripped and placed in the water. "Iris can you tell me why the water is not ice cold?" Lyra requested of the nurse.

"If the water is too cold the body temperature will fall too fast and send the body into shock."

"Very good." She turned towards another nurse. "I need a fever suppressant."

"Right away."

Lyra turned her attention on the boys. "Has there been any other symptoms?"

"He had a cough and a sore throat and a runny nose," Ace informed right away.

"And he had a seizure a few minutes ago," Sabo added, voice shaking. "At least I think that's what it was."

At hearing this Thatch's eyes widened and his heart rate picked up. Luffy had had a seizure? That's why they had been so frantic and scared. He would have been freaking out more than they had been had he been in that situation.

"At least you knew to get help after that," she said more to herself than anyone.

"Here's the medication you asked for," the nurse from earlier informed.

"Give him an injection and monitor his temperature. If his fever doesn't drop in a half hour then come find me."

"Alright doctor."

"In the meantime get him dressed and into bed."

She turned towards her two other new patients and frowned. "What are you still doing here commander? It's after visiting hours and you know the rules. You can come back tomorrow and check on them."

* * *

 

Thatch slumped in his seat at breakfast. He hadn't been able to sleep at all last night. After the trip to the infirmary he hadn't been able to calm down for hours. He just kept seeing Ace's and Sabo's pleading looks and Luffy's fever flushed face.

Imagining the small boy having a seizure.

He shivered at the thought of having to watch the normally cheerful and outgoing boy go through something like that. What he had seen had been enough.

"Well don't you look gorgeous this morning," Marco greeted sitting next to him.

"Shut up. I didn't sleep last night."

"Oh and why is that? On second thought I don't want to know," the first commander said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. Luffy's sick."

Marco shot him a confused look. "I just saw the two older brats the other day. They didn't say anything about him being sick."

"Well apparently he's had a fever for about a week and it spiked last night. Ace was pounding on my door at about midnight last night; it would seem that Luffy had a seizure last night and it scared Sabo and Ace so bad that they came for help."

"Hey guys! What's going on?" Haruta chirped as she took a seat across from Thatch.

"Luffy's sick," Marco said distractedly. "He had a seizure?" The blonde looked distressed at the thought. Probably because the boys were technically his responsibility and he hadn't even known Luffy was sick.

"That's what they told Lyra," Thatch shrugged.

"That's not good," Haruta commented quietly, automatically joining in.

"No it's really not. I'm going to go see what's going on as soon as visiting hours start."

"How are Ace and Sabo?" Marco asked.

"What's wrong with Ace and Sabo?" Namur asked joining them at the table.

"Luffy's sick," Haruta informed.

"And had a seizure," Marco added.

"And Sabo and Ace are sick too," Thatch concluded.

Within fifteen minutes the entirety of the Moby Dick knew that the three youngest passengers were sick. And despite the fact that almost every single one of the pirates had said the kids were annoying at least once since they had been on the ship all of them were very concerned about their wellbeing. Sabo, Ace, and Luffy were on their ship and it was their responsibility to protect and look out for them.

As soon as he was able, Thatch found himself with Marco in the infirmary looking at a scene he had never thought would happen.

Someone was actually standing up to Lyra.

"He's fine!" Ace shouted standing on his bed, fist clenched.

"He needs to stay in his own bed," Lyra yelled back.

"They're mine and Sabo's beds, if it makes him feel better to sleep in them with us why does it matter if he stays in his own bed? He'll just whine and cry until he gets what he wants and that won't be good for anyone!"

"Of course he's going to whine and complain. All children whine and complain when they're sick!"

"Is there a problem?" Marco asked.

"She's trying to make Luffy move," Ace said looking as if she had just committed the ultimate crime.

Thatch looked over to Sabo's bed to see Luffy sound asleep despite the noise and Sabo holding him tightly glaring at the doctor. He briefly wondered if that meant he was feeling better considering he had to actually move beds. He doubted that Sabo would carry Luffy to his bed.

"Just leave them Lyra," Marco said exasperation in his voice. "They're not hurting anyone and they're used to sharing." He smiled repeating Sabo's words from their first day about the bed in their room. "They're all probably more comfortable this way anyway."

Thatch was sure Marco was going to be avoiding Lyra at all costs in the near to distant future if the look she gave him was any indication of what was to come.

Ace was looking at Marco in confusion. It was clear that the boy had expected them to take her side. The confusion slowly transformed into a very small smile and looked pleased.

"Where do you get off telling me what to do in _my_ infirmary?" Lyra demanded getting into Marco's face, poking him in the chest. "I know you're the first division commander but in here I'm higher than the captain. In here I am God. So I don't have to do anything you say."

The man took a step back and put up his arms as a kind of barrier between the two of them. "I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that there all more comfortable when they're together and I figured that they would get better faster if they were more comfortable."

Her eyes narrowed. "GET OUT!"

"Fine, I'm leaving. But just let the kid stay where he is."


End file.
